Portable radio with button over speaker

ABSTRACT

A portable radio includes a printed circuit board, a frame positioned in front of the printed circuit board, a speaker positioned within the frame, a support platform positioned in front of the speaker and the frame, a button positioned in front of the support platform, and electrical components linked between the button and the printed circuit board. The button is movable between a first position where an electrical signal is sent through the plurality of electrical components to the printed circuit board, and a second position where the electrical signal is interrupted.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/370,072, filed Mar. 29, 2019, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Portable radios commonly include buttons for controlling one or morefeatures on the portable radios. These buttons are located along tops orsides of the portable radios. Placing a button elsewhere creates achallenge in terms of finding an electrical pathway to an interior ofthe portable radio. However, the desire for placing buttons elsewherehas grown. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved portable radio.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated inand form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrateembodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explainvarious principles and advantages of those embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a portion of a portable radio inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the portable radio of FIG. 1, with aspeaker bezel removed.

FIG. 3 is a front, right side perspective cross-sectional view of theportable radio of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a right side cross-sectional view of the portable radio ofFIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a front, left side perspective cross-sectional view of theportable radio of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a left side cross-sectional view of the portable radio of FIG.2.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help toimprove understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, there is provided herein an improved portable radio. A portableradio, in accordance with one embodiment, includes a printed circuitboard, a frame positioned in front of the printed circuit board, aspeaker positioned within the frame, a support platform positioned infront of the speaker and the frame, a button positioned in front of thesupport platform, and electrical components linked between the buttonand the printed circuit board. The button is movable between a firstposition where an electrical signal is sent through the plurality ofelectrical components to the printed circuit board, and a secondposition where the electrical signal is interrupted.

FIGS. 1-6 illustrate one example of a portable radio 10. As illustratedin FIGS. 1 and 2, the portable radio 10 includes an outer housing 14,for example a rigid outer housing made of plastic. The outer housing 14includes a speaker bezel 18 positioned along a front of the portableradio 10. The portable radio 10 also includes a button 22 that ispositioned within an opening defined by the speaker bezel 18. A portionof the button 22 is exposed to an environment outside of the portableradio 10 and is visible when the speaker bezel 18 is attached to therest of the portable radio 10 (FIG. 1).

With reference to FIGS. 3-6, the button 22 is movable, generally towardan interior of the portable radio 10 and away from the interior. In someembodiments the button 22 is biased (for example with a spring) in adirection away from the interior of the portable radio 10. In theillustrated embodiment the button 22 includes an outer region 26 (forexample generally rectangular in shape) that may be pressed by the userduring use. The button 22 further includes an inner region that extendsfrom the outer region 26 and includes a plunger 30 (FIGS. 5 and 6). Theplunger 30 is a projecting region of the button 22 that moves inwardlytoward the interior of the portable radio 10 when the button 22 ispressed. The button 22 may have other shapes and sizes than thatillustrated.

With continued reference to FIGS. 3-6, the button 22 is electricallycoupled to a printed circuit board 34 within the interior of theportable radio 10. In the illustrated embodiment the portable radio 10includes a frame 38 positioned in front of (i.e., exterior to) of theprinted circuit board 34. A speaker 42 (FIGS. 5 and 6) is positionedwithin the frame 38. A support platform 46 is positioned in front of thespeaker 42 and the frame 38. A portion of the support platform 46 ispositioned over the speaker 42, and includes speaker ports 50 (FIG. 3).As illustrated in FIG. 3, antenna elements 54 (for example sheet metalantenna elements) may be positioned on regions of the support platform46 adjacent the speaker ports 50. The antenna elements 54 may beelectrically coupled to the printed circuit board 34 (for examplethrough a separate electrical path other than that for the button 22).

With continued reference to FIGS. 3-6, the portable radio 10 includes aset of electrical components that are linked between the button 22 andthe printed circuit board 34, such that a signal may be sent from thebutton 22 to the printed circuit board 34. In some embodiments, theportable radio 10 includes at least two, three, four, or in some casesat least five separate electrical components that are separately coupledto one another between the button 22 and the printed circuit board 34.In some embodiments, the electrical components cause the electricalsignal to change directions at least two times, three times, or in somecases at least four times as the signal moves through the electricalcomponents between the button 22 and the printed circuit board 34. Thebutton 22 may be movable between a first position where the electricalsignal is sent through the electrical components to the printed circuitboard 34, and a second position where the electrical signal isinterrupted.

In the illustrated embodiment, the set of electrical components includesan electrical flex element 58 coupled to the support platform 46 and tothe frame 38. The electrical flex element 58 includes a first region 62adhered to the support platform 46, and a second region 66 adhered tothe frame 38. The electrical flex element 58 further includes a bentregion 70 (for example a thin, curved strip) disposed between the firstregion 62 and the second region 66. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, thefirst region 62 extends along a first plane, and the second region 66extends along a second plane that is perpendicular to the first plane.The bent region 70 is non-planar, and curves from the first plane to thesecond plane. In the illustrated embodiment the first plane isperpendicular to a direction of movement “D” (FIGS. 4 and 6) of thebutton 22, and the second plane is parallel to the direction ofmovement.

With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, the set of electrical componentsfurther includes a tactile dome 74. The tactile dome 74 is positionedbetween the plunger 30 of the button 22 and the electrical flex element58, and may have a dome-like or other shape that provides tactilefeedback when pressed and released. When the button 22 is in a firstposition the tactile dome 74 is in a compressed state (is pressed down)and is in contact with the electrical flex element 58 for example tocomplete the electrical connection, and when the button 22 is in asecond position the tactile dome 74 is in an uncompressed state (israised up) and is out of contact with the electrical flex element 58 forexample to interrupt the electrical connection. In some embodiments, andas illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the portable radio 10 may also includea secondary plunger 78 (for example made of silicone) that is disposeddirectly behind (interior of) the plunger 30 of the button 22, and ispositioned between the plunger 30 of the button 22 and the tactile dome74. The secondary plunger 78 may form part of a larger siliconestructure (or structure made of other soft material) that is coupled tothe support platform 46.

With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the set of electrical componentsfurther includes a spring clip connector 82 that is coupled to thesecond region 66 of the electrical flex element 58, as well as a contactfinger 86 coupled to the spring clip connector 82. The spring clipconnector 82 is disposed between the electrical flex element 58 and thecontact finger 86. In the illustrated embodiment the contact finger 86has a ninety degree bend, although other embodiments include differentshapes and sizes than that illustrated.

With continued reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the set of electricalcomponents further includes a pogo 90 coupled to both the contact finger86 and to the printed circuit board 34. The pogo 90 extends in anelongate direction that is parallel to the direction of movement D ofthe button 22. The pogo 90 is disposed within a pogo housing 94, andslides within the pogo housing 94.

During use, when the button 22 is pressed the plunger 30 of the button22 contacts and presses against the soft, secondary plunger 78, which inturn presses against the tactile dome 74. The tactile dome 74 iscompressed, causing the tactile dome 74 to contact the first region 62of the electrical flex element 58. This contact allows a signal to besent through the electrical flex element 58, through the spring clipconnector 82, through the contact finger 86, and through the pogo 90 andinto the printed circuit board 34. The signal thus passes throughvarious different electrical components, and changes direction as ismoves generally from the button 22 on the exterior of the portable radio10 to the interior of the portable radio 10 and to the printed circuitboard 34.

In some embodiments, the portable radio 10 is interactive. For example,the button 22 may be a voice control button for establishing voicecommands and information exchange with the portable radio 10 when thebutton 22 is pressed, although the button 22 may be used for any of anumber of different purposes (for example power control, volume control,and the like). In the illustrated embodiment, when the button 22 ispressed a voice may emanate from the speaker 42. For example, the voicemay say “Can I help you?” and the user may then ask the portable radio10 a question (for example asking the portable radio 10 to run a licenseplate check, or to provide information regarding traffic conditions at aparticular location). The portable radio 10 may then respond with therequested information.

With reference to FIGS. 3-6, in the illustrated embodiment the button 22may be exposed to water and other outside environmental conditions,whereas the speaker 42 may be sealed from water within the frame. Forexample, the secondary plunger 78 and/or the tactile dome 74 may besealed (with adhesive) to the first region 62 of the electrical flexelement 58 (for example via a perimeter seal), and as described abovethe first region 62 may itself be sealed (with adhesive) to the frame 38and to the support platform 46. As illustrated in FIGS. 3-6, in someembodiments a debris pad 98 is also coupled to the button 22. A portionof the debris pad 98 is positioned adjacent the plunger 30 of the button22, and a portion of the debris pad 98 is in contact with an outersurface of the speaker bezel 18. Additionally, and with reference toFIG. 5, in the illustrated embodiment the portable radio 10 may includean air vent 102 disposed on the support platform 46. The air vent 102permits passage of air from behind (interior of) the button 22 to anopen region disposed behind the support platform 46.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is definedsolely by the appended claims including any amendments made during thependency of this application and all equivalents of those claims asissued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has,”“having,” “includes,” “including,” “contains,” “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a,” “has . . . a,” “includes . . . a,” or “contains . .. a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms“a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially,” “essentially,”“approximately,” “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein isdefined as connected, although not necessarily directly and notnecessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” ina certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also beconfigured in ways that are not listed.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

We claim:
 1. A portable radio comprising: a printed circuit board; aframe positioned in front of the printed circuit board; a speakerpositioned within the frame; a support platform positioned in front ofthe speaker and the frame; a button positioned at least partially infront of the support platform and movable relative to the supportplatform along a first direction; and a plurality of electricalcomponents linked between the button and the printed circuit board;wherein the button is movable along the first direction between a firstposition wherein an electrical signal is configured to be sent throughthe plurality of electrical components to the printed circuit board, anda second position wherein the electrical signal is configured to beinterrupted, wherein the plurality of electrical elements are arrangedsuch that the electrical signal is configured to change directions atleast four times as the signal moves through the plurality of electricalcomponents, and wherein the plurality of electrical componentsadditionally includes a pogo that extends along an elongate directionthat is parallel to the first direction of movement of the button. 2.The portable radio of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electricalcomponents includes an electrical flex element coupled to the supportplatform.
 3. The portable radio of claim 2, wherein the electrical flexelement includes a first region adhered to the support platform, and asecond region adhered to the frame.
 4. The portable radio of claim 3,where the electrical flex element includes a bent region disposedbetween the first region and the second region.
 5. The portable radio ofclaim 3, wherein the first region extends along a first plane, and thesecond region extends along a second plane that is perpendicular to thefirst plane.
 6. The portable radio of claim 5, wherein the first planeis perpendicular to the first direction, and the second plane isparallel to the first direction.
 7. The portable radio of claim 2,wherein the button includes a plunger, and wherein the portable radioincludes a tactile dome positioned between the plunger and theelectrical flex element, wherein when the button is in the firstposition the tactile dome is configured to be in a compressed state, andwhen the button is in the second position the tactile dome is configuredto be in an uncompressed state.
 8. The portable radio of claim 7,wherein the tactile dome is adhered to the electrical flex element. 9.The portable radio of claim 2, wherein the plurality of electricalcomponents further includes a spring clip connector coupled to theelectrical flex element.
 10. The portable radio of claim 9, wherein theplurality of electrical components further includes a contact fingercoupled to the spring clip connector.
 11. The portable radio of claim10, wherein the contact finger has a ninety degree bend.
 12. Theportable radio of claim 1, further comprising an air vent disposed onthe support platform, wherein the air vent is configured to permitpassage of air from behind the button to an open region disposed behindthe support platform.
 13. The portable radio of claim 1, wherein theplurality of electrical components includes at least five separatecomponents electrically coupled to one another.
 14. A portable radiocomprising: a printed circuit board; a frame positioned in front of theprinted circuit board; a speaker positioned within the frame; a supportplatform positioned in front of the speaker and the frame; a buttonpositioned at least partially in front of the support platform andmovable relative to the support platform along a first direction; and aplurality of electrical components linked between the button and theprinted circuit board; wherein the button is movable along the firstdirection between a first position wherein an electrical signal isconfigured to be sent through the plurality of electrical components tothe printed circuit board, and a second position wherein the electricalsignal is configured to be interrupted, wherein the plurality ofelectrical components includes an electrical flex element coupled to thesupport platform, and wherein the electrical flex element includes afirst region that extends along a first plane, and a second region thatextends along a second plane that is perpendicular to the first plane.15. The portable radio of claim 14, wherein the plurality of electricalcomponents includes a pogo that extends along an elongate direction thatis parallel to the first direction of movement of the button.
 16. Theportable radio of claim 14, wherein the first plane is perpendicular tothe first direction, and the second plane is parallel to the firstdirection.
 17. A portable radio comprising: a printed circuit board; aframe positioned in front of the printed circuit board; a speakerpositioned within the frame; a support platform positioned in front ofthe speaker and the frame; a button positioned at least partially infront of the support platform and movable relative to the supportplatform along a first direction; and a plurality of electricalcomponents linked between the button and the printed circuit board;wherein the button is movable along the first direction between a firstposition wherein an electrical signal is configured to be sent throughthe plurality of electrical components to the printed circuit board, anda second position wherein the electrical signal is configured to beinterrupted, and wherein the plurality of electrical components includesan electrical flex element having a first region, a second region, and abent region disposed between the first region and the second region. 18.The portable radio of claim 17, wherein the plurality of electricalcomponents includes a pogo that extends along an elongate direction thatis parallel to the first direction of movement of the button.
 19. Theportable radio of claim 17, wherein the plurality of electrical elementsare arranged such that the electrical signal is configured to changedirections at least four times as the signal moves through the pluralityof electrical components.
 20. A portable radio comprising: a printedcircuit board; a frame positioned in front of the printed circuit board;a speaker positioned within the frame; a support platform positioned infront of the speaker and the frame; a button positioned at leastpartially in front of the support platform and movable relative to thesupport platform along a first direction; and a plurality of electricalcomponents linked between the button and the printed circuit board;wherein the button is movable along the first direction between a firstposition wherein an electrical signal is configured to be sent throughthe plurality of electrical components to the printed circuit board, anda second position wherein the electrical signal is configured to beinterrupted, wherein the plurality of electrical elements are arrangedsuch that the electrical signal is configured to change directions atleast four times as the signal moves through the plurality of electricalcomponents, wherein the plurality of electrical components includes anelectrical flex element coupled to the support platform, and wherein theelectrical flex element includes a first region adhered to the supportplatform and a second region adhered to the frame.
 21. A portable radiocomprising: a printed circuit board; a frame positioned in front of theprinted circuit board; a speaker positioned within the frame; a supportplatform positioned in front of the speaker and the frame; a buttonpositioned at least partially in front of the support platform andmovable relative to the support platform along a first direction; and aplurality of electrical components linked between the button and theprinted circuit board; wherein the button is movable along the firstdirection between a first position wherein an electrical signal isconfigured to be sent through the plurality of electrical components tothe printed circuit board, and a second position wherein the electricalsignal is configured to be interrupted, wherein the plurality ofelectrical elements are arranged such that the electrical signal isconfigured to change directions at least four times as the signal movesthrough the plurality of electrical components, wherein the plurality ofelectrical components includes an electrical flex element coupled to thesupport platform, a spring clip connector coupled to the electrical flexelement, and a contact finger coupled to the spring clip connector.